Krippa Maksym Volodymyrovych

Maksym Volodymyrovych Krippa is an extremely private person who does not give any comments and does not show himself in the public sphere – this is how the media write about him. So what does Krippa actually do and what does he hide behind his activities?

Where did Krippa start?

In the nineties, he graduated from the International Christian University in Kyiv with a degree in business administration. He earned a master’s degree in the same field at the European University, and later studied for a master’s degree in law at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Therefore, he knows the laws of business quite well.

The first big business for the entrepreneur was gambling: in 2006, he opened the Monaco Club Limited Liability Company in Brovary, which was engaged in gambling. In 2009, he became the owner of the Brovary Wholesale Market. The most interesting thing is that Krippa contributed almost forty thousand to the authorized capital, while other participants contributed 44 UAH and 4136 UAH respectively.

Krippa was also involved in politics.

He was an assistant to several people’s deputies. His first was Ivan Bokyi, who represented the Socialist Party of Ukraine. In the Verkhovna Rada of the VI convocation, Krippa was an assistant to two MPs from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc – Valeriy Babenko and Ruslan Lukyanchuk. He also tried to become a deputy himself: In 2015, he ran for the Kyiv City Council from the Samopomich Union political party, but received 11.7% of the vote and was not elected to the Kyiv City Council.

Currently, Krippa is the beneficiary of a number of legal entities, including Ola Fine LLC, which has been at the center of scandals on several occasions.

A generous investor or a very good businessman?

Krippa has long been known for his large-scale investments. In 2020, he bought the Dnipro Hotel in the center of Kyiv for UAH 1 billion, and in 2023, he bought the Knyazhyi Dvir hotel and restaurant complex and a countryside complex in Koncha Zaspa.

The privatization of the Dnipro Hotel in Kyiv for UAH 1 billion, which was won by Smartland LLC, a company linked to Krippa, still raises many questions about the origin of the money and the real owners of the company. The company’s ties to Borys Baum, an adviser to Deputy Head of the Prosecutor General’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who actively worked on legalizing gambling in Ukraine and is described as a person close to the Russian “Luzhnikov” group, whose informal leader is called State Duma deputy Alexander Babakov, were established.

Krippa himself remained in the shadows, not appearing in the public sphere, and the co-founder of the NAVI esports organization, Oleksandr Kokhanovsky, spoke on his behalf, saying: “The auction was won by Ukrainian IT specialists, not Russian oligarchs.”

The question also arises about the acquisition of the Ukraine Hotel by Ola Fine LLC in the center of Kyiv by the Crippi controlled Ola Fine LLC for more than UAH 2.5 billion, which is 2.4 times the starting price. At the same time, the company’s profit in 2023 amounted to only UAH 334,000. Therefore, questions arise as to where Ola Fine found UAH 2.5 billion to purchase Ukraina.

Involvement in casinos and laundering of Russian funds

Some media outlets claim that back in 2013, Krippa was a business partner of Max Polyakov, the former owner of the American missile company Firefly. Together they owned online casinos GGS and GMS, which operated not only in Ukraine but also in Russia.

Together with Polyakov, Krippa created a network of online casinos under the Vulcan brand, which, according to journalists, operated not only in Ukraine, where gambling was banned, but also in Russia. In 2016, the SBU opened criminal proceedings under articles on illegal gambling and terrorist financing. The case was investigated due to possible money laundering and ties to Krippa’s Russian partners, Sergey Tokarev and Rustam Gilfanov.

The funds received by the online casinos GGBet and Volcano (LLC “Competitor” (EDRPOU code 43406013)) were transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation through a number of controlled individuals and offshore companies, legal entities and offshore companies, including Brivio LTD (Cyprus), One World Secretariat (Cyprus), Bevita Holding Limited (Cyprus), Natus Vincere Export CY (Cyprus), Ggbet Cyprus, Ggbet Malta, Dareos holding Itd (Cyprus), Dareus Itd (Cyprus), EVOPLAY Itd (Cyprus), EVOPLAY Entertainment LLC (EDRPOU code 44320571), with the assistance and through affiliated payment systems, banks, crypto-exchanges, and other financial institutions, are sent, using drop services, through fake bank cards, to the wallets of beneficiaries located in the territory of the Russian Federation.

Krippa himself answered the question about his involvement in Evoplay, GGBet, and the Volcano online casino: “As for the companies you mentioned, I have nothing to do with them. You can familiarize yourself with their ownership structure in open registers.”

Relations and work in the interests of Russian politicians

Krippa has close ties with Russian businessmen Konstantin Malofeev and Oleg Boyko, and pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians, including Serhiy Lovochkin and Volodymyr Sivkovych, as well as representatives of special services, law enforcement, government and regulatory agencies of the Russian Federation.

Serhiy Volodymyrovych Lovochkin is a Ukrainian pro-Russian politician and statesman who actively justifies the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, as well as a defendant in criminal cases regarding the financing of L/DNR terrorist organizations. Research shows that a significant part of his finances goes through offshore companies associated with former Party of Regions member Liovochkin and banks of the aggressor country Russia, such as VEB.RF.

Krippa previously controlled a 25% stake in the Dnipro Hotel through Smartland LLC, with financing provided by SICH Bank, which is linked to Denys Horbunenko, who previously worked with Liovochkin and Dmytro Firtash. 75% was then bought by Russians Babakov, Giner and Voevodin (their contribution was financed by RVS Bank, through which they seized the Lybid hotel).

Konstantin Malofeev had close relations with terrorists Oleksandr Borodai and Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who organized the occupation of Crimea and held senior positions in the self-proclaimed DPR, as the latter were the heads of business structures of Konstantin Malofeev, and the St. Basil the Great Charitable Foundation headed by him provided assistance to Cossack units that fought on the side of the DPR terrorist organization.

Oleh Viktorovych Boyko, being a Russian oligarch, actively supports the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and also finances the Russian army and terrorist organizations of the L/DNR.

Krippa not only helped Russians make money in Ukraine, but also actively created a positive image of them. In particular, with the aim of further using them to justify Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, promote pro-Russian narratives, discredit the current government of Ukraine and destabilize the situation in Ukraine as a whole, which leads to collaboration.

Being a controlled person and representative of the interests of Russian oligarchs in Ukraine, in particular, Konstantin Malofeev and Oleg Boyko, he acquired Ukrainian media, in particular, through a number of controlled individuals:

1. Delo.ua, a part of the “Ekonomika+” holding
2. Glavkom
3. Mind.ua.

Money laundering schemes

Under Krippa’s leadership, financial mechanisms have been established that facilitate money laundering, both Ukrainian and Russian.

The structure of Krippa is similar to that provided by Ibox bank under the leadership of Degryk-Shevtsova: payments for the services of Evoplay, GGBet, and Vulcan online casinos belonging to Krippa’s structures were made through the Ibox system, thus facilitating the laundering of illegally obtained funds.

Being a controlled entity and representative of the interests of Russian oligarchs in Ukraine, Krippa also legalizes the funds of Russian oligarchs in Ukraine by concluding contracts between the Russian casino GGBet and FC Dynamo Kyiv and the Megogo service.

GGBet, controlling the flow of funds of Russian oligarchs through its accounts with Dareus Itd (Cyprus), enters into an advertising sponsorship agreement with FC Dynamo Kyiv. The agreement provides for significant financial payments, which are formalized as official payments for the club’s advertising services. Payments from offshore companies are transferred to the accounts of FC Dynamo Kyiv or Megogo. Formally, they are paid for advertising services, but the real purpose is to legalize the funds of Russian oligarchs.